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Wednesday, September 29, 2010

I got down to Cortez on Tuesday and rode Phil's World. Dual purpose trip to Cortez as usual; ride and grocery shop. Phil's is pretty beat up from the rain and I felt all of it on the rigid bike. Not to mention I had hurt my back on Saturday (not worth telling the story) and it felt every little rock as well. Nearly 30 miles in under 3 hours. A good day for sure.

In my backyard last night enjoying the warm fall air. Life is good with this view.

Monday, September 27, 2010

The leaves are falling and soon the snow will be falling but in the meantime I certainly love the warm fall temps we have recently been presented with. After doing the local Rico Fun Run which raised money for the local school Sunday morning.....and yes I took 1st. Add that to the resume!! LOL!! It was a fun run but still a race for a few of us. Laura and I got out for a small ride after we chopped wood for a few hours. Laura was excited to try out her newly revamped singlespeed that I transformed into a 69er with a Surly rigid fork and a 7" disc in the front. So far so good. She loves it.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Near perfect fall weather called for a nice high country ride. Pedaled out of Rico North to Barlow Creek Road and up to Hermosa Peak on over to Section Point and up and over BlackHawk Pass and onto Scotch Creek and back home. A nice 34 mile ride with 4600 feet of climbing. Took me 4.5 hours to complete the ride. Met a guy from Albuquerque by the name of Todd Nugent at Hermosa Peak area and we rode for a bit together and I left him at Blackhawk as he was enjoying the views. His first time on the Blackhawk. We both knew mutual friends such as Lenny Goodell and Doug Da Goat. Small world at times. Also my first time to totally clean the climb up Barlow. I was running a 32x20 on the rigid rocket and I felt that effort trying to get up Blackhawk. Scotch Creek like usual was a red mud fest. Just rained for two days earlier in the week and it takes awhile for that to dry up.Another side note. I ran my new Ergon BC2 pack and it felt great. The new design works out well all around. Nice job Ergon.

Hermosa Peak.

Hermosa Peak with some recent new snow.

Blackhawk.

Looking back to Blackhawk on my way down the CT to Scotch.

Always a self portrait of me.

Todd Nugent from Albuquerque climbing Section Point. I think the thin air was getting to him. LOL!!!

Lizard Head in the distance with Flat Top in the foreground.

At Section Point looking toward the Circe Trail which drops down into Rico.

Friday, September 24, 2010

I received my new BC2 Ergon pack from Jeff Kerkove yesterday. My previous BD2 pack was suffering some ill fated flaws. Looks as if Ergon did some serious revamping for the new version. Looking forward to giving it a test run this weekend on a big ride. Lot's of room in this one with an expanding zipper option, rain cover, waterproof zippers, 6 inside pockets for easy organizing, capacity for 3 liters of water and a zippered stash pocket on the waist belt. I'm thinking of going up to East Fork and over Blackhawk to Salt Creek and back to Rico. The weather forecast looks amazing for the weekend.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

The official first of day of Fall and I kicked it off with a run up Barlow Creek Road after work for 2.5 miles with a round trip of 5 miles and 650 feet of climbing. Barlow is nicely situated 6.5 miles North of Rico and makes for a nice stop on the way home. I enjoy running at times this time of year when the biking time is limited. The legs felt tired as I have not rested much in the past few weeks. I wanted to test the new Solomon XA Pro 3D Ultra Goretex runners out. They feel pretty good and they are nice and warm. They should be nice this winter when I'm out running in the snow and snowshoe running.

View looking down Barlow toward the Lizard Head Peak area. Not sure what peak this is.

The new runners. Kevlar quicklace tensioning system is a nice feature.

The serious runners face. And yes, I run mostly in cycling clothing. Dual purpose.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Officially at 9.09 pm tonight it will be Fall. The leaves are changing in the high country. I did a road ride last night with TR and rode from Telluride to Lizard Head Pass and back to Telluride. 32 miles and 2500 feet of climbing. A beautiful time of year but on the other hand it also means the snow flurries will begin soon and it will be another long winter. Transition time. Need to get the mindset ready for the snow. Going for a run tonight up Barlow Creek Road or up Dunton Road. Need to break in the new Goretex Solomon's.I will post some pictures tomorrow.

Monday, September 20, 2010

The 12 Hours Behind the Prison was a fun filled weekend of riding but the turn out once again was sad. Not sure what it is about the turnout; mismanaged marketing or people are down on riding some primitive double track. It is truly a great course for this type of event. Some good climbing and varying terrain that throws some fun at you and even a short hike-a-bike to boot. The views of the Grand Mesa and of the Escalante Canyon are amazing. 15 miles and 1600 feet of climbing for each lap. I wanted a fast lap and my first lap was a fast 1:04 which was 10 minutes faster than last years fastest lap effort. The sharp rocks took its toll on at least 3 of the racers. The duo team had at least 2 sliced tires on their effort. TR cut his tire on his 1st lap and had to run a mile back to the transition which by the time I finished my 2nd lap going on 3 he was finally starting his 2nd lap so my only competition was down a lap early on. I punctured my front Schwalbe on the first lap but it sealed up after awhile so I had no worries at all. TR and I ended up riding together the remainder of the race. I easily won the overall with 7 laps; TR with 6 laps. Without the heat and wind an 8 lap or even a 9 lap performance would have happened. The 100 degree heat was brutal and the head wind on the 4 mile climb at the start wasn't much fun at all through out the day. Laura knocked out 4 laps and won her female solo effort. A good training day. The legs felt last weekends Vapor Trail effort.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

This Saturday, September 18th come on out and enjoy some great racing and at the same time support a good cause. Only $50.00 to race a 12 Hour race with great support and a BBQ afterwards and custom awards given to top class finishers.

Monday, September 13, 2010

My own write up coming soon but for now here is an article posted on MTBR : The ultra-endurance Vapor Trail 125 race started at 10PM on Saturday night in Salida Colorado at an elevation of 7,000 feet. The 125 mile course spends most of its time in the Sawatch Range, and once it hits the first singletrack, it never drops below 9,000 feet until the last 8 miles. For most of the course, the elevation varies from 9,000 to a staggering 12,600, usually averaging around 10,500 feet. When the riders are done, they will have completed around 20,000 feet of cumulative climbing. I have ridden a good deal of the trail, and it can be taxing and difficult in daylight, and would be very ugly at night with lights.Jeff Kerkove of Team Ergon won the race in a blistering 14:26, and Kevin Thomas came in a few minutes later in 2nd place with a 14:29, and about an hour afterward was Jonathan Davis in 3rd with a 15:20. Most of the rest of the riders completed in 16-19 hours, but a few stragglers are still riding as I post this!My local Monument Colorado compatriot Brad Baker had to bail out at Monarch Pass due to health issues (sorry Brad), and he was unfortunately joined by at least 15 others in the DNF and DNS category.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Up next is the Vapor Trail 125 this Saturday with a 10pm start time. Follow the racers via the SPOT devices at this website: http://trackleaders.com/vapor125. A very cool concept that allows anybody to view the progress over the duration of the event in real time. With 20,000 feet of climbing the race should take any where from 12ish hours for the fast guys and up to 18 hours for some. I'm running a 32x22 on the Airborne 29er and have new rubber; Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.25 tires mounted with fresh Stan's solution. Using the Ay Up lighting system which has been tested many times.

Unfortunately I will not see this view too well as it will be dark when we top out here on the Canyon Creek Trail in the wee hours of Sunday morning and descend for an hour plus in what will be the coldest part of the day.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Wow, another great September day in the high country. I live dab smack in what we call high country. No stop lights, no smog, none of the big city inconveniences. I'm able to ride from my house and within minutes if not seconds I'm in the back country riding without a soul around. Life is good here.....................

And with all my riding/training the weight has been ideal lately. Down to 136 this weekend with my average at 140 for the past few years plus. Amazing at times you can drop 5 pounds in water weight on a hard endurance races. You have to stay hydrated when doing the long stuff.

The Rico Run Endurance ride yielded some strong riders as usual with some usual suspects. 7 started and 2 finished the total route. Doug Byerly rocked the entire course in 11 hours 51 minutes to take first and Danny Powers finished in 2nd place in a time of 13 hours 6 minutes. I wasn't going to ride the whole route and was being tempted once I started as I felt great rocking about on the rigid Vassago but a broken pedal at Celebration Lake put a stop to my efforts. I bailed down Barlow Creek Road which wasn't much fun not being able to clip in. So, I ended up with nearly 40 miles and a great ride anyways. After I finished I drove out to offer the other riders some morale support and cold drinks if wanted. Afterwards the two finishers and myself enjoyed some burgers and beer at the Enterprise Bar and grill. Nice job to everyone!

The hike-a-bike up to Blackhawk. In this photo is Steve Reiter, Robin Guillaume and Danny Powers. The sky was so perfectly blue.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Found these today at Paragon Sports on sale. I have been wanting a pair of running shoes with Goretex and I found them. Solomon's best trail runners; Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultra GTX Shoes. Nothing but the best for mountain running. And for where I live running is an alternative exercise during the winter months. Here is what I incorporate into my exercise routine during the winter months; XC ski, snowshoe running (Crescent Moon makes an awesome running snowshoe), telemark skiing/skinning, regular snowshoeing and on the rollers with the road bike in my man cave. And yes, lots of running. These will be great shoes for the running snowshoes. Next is to find some skate skis.FeaturesWaterproof-BreathableGore-Tex XCR InsertQuicklace Kevlar Lacing SystemSynthetic Non-Absorbent UppersQuick Drying